Since the Lakers listlessly began their post-All-Star break stretch with a disappointing loss against Charlotte, they’ve played seven times.
Seven times in 13 days.
They won in Portland, they dominated in Denver. They beat the Mavericks, they bested the Timberwolves and took care of the Clippers twice. And Tuesday, on a night where some kind of letup felt like a possibility if not an all-out likelihood, they dominated New Orleans 136-115 after the Pelicans won four of their previous five.
It’s the Lakers longest winning streak of the season.
“We know what we want to do every night,” LeBron James said.
Energy and complacency were never issues for them Tuesday, not with Luka Doncic skipping after made threes and posing after no-look passes, not with James making history and then making big play after big play and not with the Lakers, once again, playing with the kind of full-throttle effort that has them in second place in the Western Conference
The Suns trailed by 19 entering the fourth but came all the way back thanks to big buckets from Durant and backup guard Collin Gillespie. Phoenix had a 43-22 advantage in the fourth, reviving its playoff hopes
Gillespie scored 10 points on four-of-six shooting, including two for three from three-point range, to give the Suns a much-needed spark in the second half. Nick Richards added 16 points on eight-of-10 shooting.
From Ryan Kartje: After a stellar season that included a Big Ten regular season championship, USC forward JuJu Watkins has been named Big Ten Player of the Year and the Trojans’ Lindsay Gottlieb earned coach of the year honors following a vote among league coaches and media members.
Kiki Iriafen, who transferred to USC from Stanford last spring to team with Watkins, joined her on the All-Big Ten first team after a season in which she averaged 18.1 points and 8.3 rebounds per game.
Watkins and senior Rayah Marshall were named to the Big Ten’s All-Defensive team, while freshman Kennedy Smith earned All-Freshman team honors. Marshall and Smith also earned All-Big Ten honorable mentions.
